Biography
Prof. Manuel Filipe Costa
Prof. Manuel Filipe Costa
University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, Portugal
Title: Environmentally Enhanced Asphalt Pavement by Photocatalysis.Optical Characterization
Abstract: 

Photocatalysis, by the application of semiconductors onto asphalt mixtures, is a most important capability providing major environmental and social benefits. Road pavements must have the ability to resist the effects of vehicle traffic and climate ensuring good driving conditions with safety, comfort, economy and with lower possible impact on the environment. Smart and multifunctional asphalt mixtures differs from the conventional ones having the ability to react to external stimulus complying with those requirements. Capabilities such as photocatalytic, superhydrophobic, self-cleaning, deicing/anti-ice, self-healing, thermochromic and latent heat thermal energy storage can be incorporated into asphalt mixtures. They can be incorporated by spraying coating, bulk incorporation, bitumen modification, and spreading. The spraying coating technique, mostly applied for superhydrophobic, self-cleaning and photocatalytic capabilities, have been intensively studied since it is the most efficient one and uses less material. The photocatalytic performance is evaluated by optical analysis using spectrophotometry,namely UV/visible diffuse reflectance and absorbance spectroscopies, which allows the calculation of the band gap of the semiconductors and to indicate and analyze the photocatalytic activity by a dye degradation. Microtopographic and rugometric characterization of surfaces is routinely and effectively performed non-invasively by a number of different optical methods. In this presentation we will also report on the rugometric and microtopographiccharacterization of road asphalt pavement surfaces produced in different ways and compositions. Having complex structures, including topographically with different ranges of form error and roughness, the inspection of asphalt pavement surfaces is difficult to perform non-invasively. In the work herein we will report on the optical non-contact rugometric characterization of the surface of different types of road pavements performed at the Microtopography Laboratory of the Physics Department of the University of Minho.

Keywords:Photocatalysis, optical characterization, microtopography, rugometry, asphalt pavement, microtexture.

Biography: 
Manuel Filipe Costa holds a PhD degree in Science (Physics) from the University of Minho (Portugal) working since 1985 at its Physics Department teaching and performing in applied research in optical metrology, image processing, optometry and optometric instrumentation, optical coatings and nanomaterials production and characterization, as well as in optics, physics and science and S&T education, particularly: optical dimensional metrology including the development of optical microtopographers based on active triangulation, optical based non-destructive evaluation methods and tools for nanomaterials and surface coatings, thin films production and characterization for optical applications and thermal and corrosion barriers, image processing, skin cancer optical diagnosis, optometry, optical instrumentation and sensors, solar energy, solgel' diffraction gratings, and on pedagogical aspects of undergraduate teaching of physics and specially applied optics and photonics, as well as educational robotics, on environment and sustainable development and on science education and literacy. He presented over three hundred and fifty invited, oral or poster communications at international meetings and published around the same number of scientific papers, monographs and books. He is author of the international patent WO 2006/011065-A1. He has been the editor of nineteen books. He is member of the editorial board International Journal of the Spanish Optics Society, OPA (ISSN 2171-8814), of the Intercultural Communications Journal (ISSN 1512-4363) and editor-in-chief of the International Journal on Hands-on Science (ISSN 1646-8937). He has been or is external evaluator of ESF, Alban, INTAS, EC' programs FP6, FP7 and H2020 programs. Serves or served as referee of over thirty international journals in optics, physics, metrology, sensors, environment and education. He is or has been the coordinator of a large number of pedagogic projects on in-school hands-on learning of optics, science and educational robotics, and developed educational kits in optics, fiber optics, electromagnetism and biomechanics. His teaching duties included the responsibility of over twenty undergraduate and master classes on Optics and Optometry, and several others in different other topics of Physics and Science Education. Abroad, he delivered lectures at universities of Spain, Australia, Greece, Czech Republic, Turkey, Brazil, Slovakia, Tunisia and Morocco and in international training courses on optics, renewable energies and sustainable development and educational robotics in Portugal, Spain, France, Turkey, Slovakia, Romania, Greece and Austria. He is or has been supervisor of nearly thirty master students and seven PhD students as well as mentor of several undergraduate students including Erasmus students from Spain, Turkey and China. He is actively committed to the improvement of optics education but also of science and technology in general. Women in science and the generalization of scientific literacy in all levels of our society are other major topics of intervention. Every year he delivers a large number of motivational informal talks and seminars for school students and teachers. He organized and performed countless outreach activities. Organized and acted as chairperson of twenty international conferences, five major international workshop meetings, three international Summer School in the field of Optics and Photonics, as well as of over thirty European (Socrates/LLL/Comenius/ERASMUS+) teacher training courses (referenced at the good practice examples book of the European Commission ISBN 978-92-79-07769-2, 2008). He organized several national and international science fairs, contests and many other outreach activities in Portugal and abroad. He projected implemented and organized the educational laboratories of Fiber Optics, Image Acquisition and Processing, Geometrical Optics and Signal Processing of the Physics Department of the University of Minho, as well as the research laboratory on Microtopography he is responsible of. Since 1986 he acted as member of scientific steering program or local organization committees of a large number of national or international conferences and was session chair in many international conferences. Coordinated globally or at national level several European cooperation projects (FP7, Tempus, Socrates, LLL and Erasmus+) and bilateral cooperation projects and institutional agreements with institutions from Argentina, Austria, Australia, Brazil, Georgia, Greece, India, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and USA. He is or has been the responsible for eight projects and member of the research teams of over twenty others. He has been member of the European IST Network "Phantoms. Network of Excellence in nanotechnologies" (IST-2000-26021); national delegate for Portugal to the board of the EU’ Actions COST P7 and COST IE 0601; and, member of the board of Network of Youth Excellence, NYEX. He is President of the Board and founder of the Portuguese Society for the Development and Research in Optics and Photonics, SPOF (www.optica.pt), President and founder of the International Association "Hands-on Science Network" (www.hsci.info). He is Deputy Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the European Optical Society, EOS. He is member of the Board of Stakeholders of the PHOTONICS’21 Association. He is member of the Board of the Ibero-American Optics Network, RIAO/SOPHIA. He is president of the Portuguese Territorial Committee of the International Commission for Optics (elected in 2011 and re-elected to serve until 2020). He is Senior member of the International Society of Optical Engineering, SPIE, and Fellow of the European Optical Society, EOS. Expresses himself fluently in Portuguese, English and Spanish, with ease in French, and fairly in Italian.